This invention relates generally to protective bumper strip assemblies for protecting furniture edges, wall and display case surfaces and the like. In particular, this invention is directed to an improved resilient bumper strip assembly which conveys directional and/or emergency information to an observer.
Protective strip assemblies using resilient strip materials in various types of channels are known in the art, as illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,013,596, 4,083,592, and 4,808,451 and the patents cited therein. The protective strip assembly disclosed in each of those patents includes a metal or plastic channel capped by an opaque strip of a resilient material, such as rubber. The channel, which may be roughly rectangular in its outside cross-section, attaches to a surface to be protected. The resilient rubber strip is secured to the channel member and partially surrounds and engages the channel along the channel faces that face generally perpendicular to the surface to be protected.
It is an object of this invention to provide a protective bumper strip assembly which conveys useful directional, emergency or other information to an observer.
It is another object of this invention to provide a protective strip assembly in which the directional, emergency or other information is luminescent, thereby allowing it to be seen in darkness.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a transparent protective resilient strip member which can be used with existing metal, plastic, or graphite composite channels